City snow plows

[marklingm]

Ryan,

It's all about cognitive dissonance.

See http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12375.

Matt

[Scott Meeson]

Driving tips for the winter:



Scott Meeson

[Jeff Dreger]

I wish there were some YouTube videos for "How to Maintain City Streets in Winter" for the Lakewood head honchos.

[Scott Meeson]

Casey Meeson (my son) just sent me this picture to let me know that the weather is pretty challenging in Tucson, Arizona:

[Dave Mechenbier]

Isn't this a great topic for a city council member to use their position to get some answers and report back to interested and concerned neighbors?

[marklingm]

Mike Summers is really good at playing the blame game. These posts started back up again the beginning of the year. Around January 2nd Mike Summers released the following.

From: Summers, Mike
Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2014 10:55 AM

All,

As of this moment, ( (10:30AM thurs Jan 2nd) we have ten plows and five Salt plow- trucks on the road.

This storm started just before 4AM. We have had plows on the road since that 4AM. We will be plowing around the clock until we get cleared up. This usually takes 48 hours post snow fall.

Some things to remember:

1) We use salt lightly when we snow is still coming down and we are plowing heavily. Plowing tends to remove recently placed salt that has not been ground up by traffic

2) Salt is at its maximum effectiveness when it is ground into brine by auto traffic. Just placing salt by itself will not melt much.

3) We plow and salt side streets sufficiently to make 25MPH speeds safe. We do not scrape side streets clean until all major arteries are clear, usually in 2nd 24 hour period after the snow has fallen. This strategy reflects plowing and salting’s impact on road maintenance and environmental concerns.

4) Parking enforcement is reflective of conditions. We are currently using light enforcement strategies.

5) We have 100 less public works workers compared to the pre 2008 era. Overtime rules and call out strategies are being stressed. We will use these experiences to identify opportunities to improve both performance, labor equity, and public safety.


Michael P. Summers
Mayor, City of Lakewood
mike.summers@lakewoodoh.net<mailto:mike.summers@lakewoodoh.net>
216-529-6600

So... the roads were bad back on the 2nd because we have less employees than years past. Now that the roads are bad again, this time it is because we have no salt??

I thought Mike was supposed to bring a business experience into city hall. If this was a business they would be fired and replaced.

This is embarrassing.

Ryan,

It's too bad elections aren't held in January.

I can see the ad now:

It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep, but there’s a phone in City Hall and it’s ringing. Something is happening to the salt supply but Mayor Mike Summers is away wining and dining with the President of the United States with your hard earned money. Your vote will decide who answers that call.

Matt

[Jeff Dreger]

I contacted my ward and the at large councilpersons on Friday. None have gotten back to me with their take on the situation thus far. (The mayor did respond with essentially an abbreviated rewording of the press release.)

Will the Morton fiasco be used as cover for unrelated lack of service?

[marklingm]

Will the Morton fiasco be used as cover for unrelated lack of service?

The answer, Jeff, is, "yes."

This thread started in 2012.

Mike Summers is just rubbing salt into his many wounds.

[Ryan Salo]

Here are some good quotes on responsibility and government.

"Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses."
— George Washington Carver

"Responsibility: A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one's neighbor. In the days of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star." ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911

"Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."
Ronald Reagan

"Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility . . . . In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility."
— Michael Korda - Editor-in-Cheif, Simon & Schuster

"Responsibility finds a way. Irresponsibilty makes excuses!”
Gene Bedley National Educator Of The Year

[Jim O'Bryan]

Ryan

I called Morton Salt yesterday morning at 9:20am. I called their municipal streets number.
A woman answered and asked me my name, I told here and that I was calling from,
Lakewood Observer in Lakewood, Ohio.

I asked if Lakewood was on hold, or if there was anything that would cause them not to
ship salt to us. She asked me the account number and I said I do not have it. She then
asked, "12650 Detroit Ave?" I said "yes." "Delivered on Metro Park Drive?" I said yes.
She said that it did not show us on hold or with back orders. That all 1,500 tons had been
delivered. I asked if there was a reason they would tell city hall they were on hold or
back order. She "No" then asked, "What is your position with the city?" I told her, "I am
not with the city, I merely work for the city paper." Phone went dead, was transferred to
Denise Laurer's office where it rang and was not answered. I called back and was directed
to Harrison Dobe her assistant, who answered the phone, and said "I will walk the
message into her office and leave it for her."

They have not called back.

Yesterday the salt was delivered.

However, much like Detroit Road renovation The numbers we are hearing vary from 1,000
tons to 2,200 tons of salt delivered to "Three tucks not sure of the tonnage."

Also the reason for lack of salt has ranged from, "We decided not to, to safety, to
temperatures, to ineffective, to other places don't plow, to backordered to oh we think
we have all of it now.

While all of this is small potatoes stuff(not really), why can't management at City Hall just
tell us what is going on truthfully. Everything is like a child getting caught doing something
foolish tweeted with hyperbole, then retweeted, then pumped out through our new media
control person, followed by days of retweets of various reasons giving excuse after excuse,
until the next piece of mischief comes through and it all starts over again. It is like
watching the Keystone Cops after they hired the Little Rascals.

Of all of the quotes posted by Ryan, and a belief in this myself as the owner of a couple
businesses when management relies on petty excuses and an ever growing "spin machine"
at City Hall, we are in deep trouble.

On a separate note, kind of. AS you drag your trash can to the street. The entire distance
I would ask you to think. "Is this trip to the curb worth a toy helicopter and another PR
Spin Person for City Hall, to misrepresent facts to us, as they did the savings on curbside
trash collection. Half of the savings has been spent on those two items. Was it worth it?"

Well in 8-12 years after it has paid for trash cans and trucks first!

Or as George Washington Carver said, ""Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from
people who have a habit of making excuses."

Imagine what it must be like for people that desperately see a need to hire people to make
the excuses for them? 99.999999%?


FWIW

.

[marklingm]

I called Morton Salt yesterday morning at 9:20am. I called their municipal streets number. A woman answered and asked me my name, I told here and that I was calling from, Lakewood Observer in Lakewood, Ohio.

I asked if Lakewood was on hold, or if there was anything that would cause them not to ship salt to us. She asked me the account number and I said I do not have it. She then asked, "12650 Detroit Ave?" I said "yes." "Delivered on Metro Park Drive?" I said yes. She said that it did not show us on hold or with back orders. That all 1,500 tons had been delivered. I asked if there was a reason they would tell city hall they were on hold or back order. She "No" then asked, "What is your position with the city?" I told her, "I am not with the city, I merely work for the city paper." Phone went dead, was transferred to Denise Laurer's office where it rang and was not answered. I called back and was directed to Harrison Dobe her assistant, who answered the phone, and said "I will walk the message into her office and leave it for her."

They have not called back.

Yesterday the salt was delivered.

Jim,

A simple call from the publisher of The Lakewood Observer may have carried more weight than press releases and chest pumping from the mayor of the City of Lakewood.

Hence, the desire of "City Hall and Friends" to replace Mike Summers with an unelected city manager.

Matt

[Jerry Ritcey]

Jim,

You seem to be saying we should take the pronoucements from city hall with...a grain of salt?

[marklingm]

While all of this is small potatoes stuff(not really), why can't management at City Hall just tell us what is going on truthfully. Everything is like a child getting caught doing something foolish tweeted with hyperbole, then retweeted, then pumped out through our new media control person, followed by days of retweets of various reasons giving excuse after excuse, until the next piece of mischief comes through and it all starts over again. It is like watching the Keystone Cops after they hired the Little Rascals.

Of all of the quotes posted by Ryan, and a belief in this myself as the owner of a couple businesses when management relies on petty excuses and an ever growing "spin machine" at City Hall, we are in deep trouble.

On a separate note, kind of. AS you drag your trash can to the street. The entire distance I would ask you to think. "Is this trip to the curb worth a toy helicopter and another PR Spin Person for City Hall, to misrepresent facts to us, as they did the savings on curbside trash collection. Half of the savings has been spent on those two items. Was it worth it?"

Well in 8-12 years after it has paid for trash cans and trucks first!

Or as George Washington Carver said, "Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses."

Imagine what it must be like for people that desperately see a need to hire people to make the excuses for them? 99.999999%?

The above is spot on, Jim.

That being said, I am still having a hard time understanding how any of the above issues will be fixed if Mike Summers is replaced with an unelected city manager.

The problem is the person, not the position.

Mike is a horrible mayor.

We all get that.

Anyone who thinks that Mike is anything other than an inept mayor has never spoken to “City Hall and Friends.”

“City Hall and Friends” believe that Mike Summers has ruined the elected mayor position so badly that we need to change the entire system and go with the unelected city manager route instead.

Is now the right time to start openly talking about who “City Hall and Friends” believe would do a better job than Mike Summers?

Matt

[Jim O'Bryan]

That being said, I am still having a hard time understanding how any of the above issues will be fixed if Mike Summers is replaced with an unelected city manager.

The problem is the person, not the position.

Mike is a horrible mayor.

We all get that.

Anyone who thinks that Mike is anything other than an inept mayor has never spoken to “City Hall and Friends.”

“City Hall and Friends” believe that Mike Summers has ruined the elected mayor position so badly that we need to change the entire system and go with the unelected city manager route instead.

Is now the right time to start openly talking about who “City Hall and Friends” believe would do a better job than Mike Summers?

Matt

Matt

I am not sure how any day to day decisions gets pulled into the City Manager or not
conversation.

You were not a fan of Ed as mayor, and I predict as time rolls on we will see many of his
decisions and reasons for Lakewood's fall from grace.

The entire world understands you are not a fan of Mike Summers, we get it. And I am
lucky enough to know the story from both sides.

But the answer is very simple, and you know this as a lawyer. Hire a PROVEN professional
if you can, when you can.

Is it a guarantee? Hell no. I have tried twice to hire professional CEOs to run AGS Software
both times they have failed miserably, one from Yale. But I continue to look because it
is fascinating to think what a professional could do with my company, instead of a burned
out idealistic old hippie.

I believe the same COULD be true for running a city. At the same time if City Council does
this and hires some of the same people here, they need to be run from office, immediately.
From two council members I have heard hints at two names that make me shiver, as their
level of expertise is right there or below that of an ex-nun.

Hire a proven City Manager, someone successful elsewhere, in a city our size or larger,
and pay him a decent wage. If they hire a city manager from within, or someone that
just fell out of city manager school, they should all be looked at closely in their next election.

.

[Jim O'Bryan]

From Morton Salt

Jim,

Thanks for reaching out to Morton Salt regarding salt deliveries.

This winter season, demand for deicing salt has been much higher than normal due to the cold weather and continued snowfall events across the region. The surge in demand for salt can delay deliveries as we try to balance the needs of all our customers. We are working closely with our customers and taking a number of steps to deliver on their salt orders as quickly as possible.

Hope this update is helpful.

Denise

Denise Lauer
Morton Salt Communications
Chicago, IL